AMD FX Cooling Recommendations

[Aquinus]

I've been pretty happy with my Zalman CNPS 9900. Cools my i7 3820 really well and still lets you use tall ram.

This is an old image, but this is how the aluminum-plated one with blue LEDs looks in my case from a year ago. I didn't feel like taking another picture when I already had one.
View attachment 46556

 

[buildzoid]

get a PHANTEKS PH-TC12DX it's almost the same price as an Antec H2O 620 while cooling better
if you want to go cheaper then the Thermalright HR-02 Macho is also a good cooler though I do suggest you get some cooling for those VRMs because if those get too hot your computer will throttle.

 

[Jstn7477]

Cooler Master TPC-812 is a great $70 air cooler (picked one up the other day) and cadaveca recommends it a lot on here. Everyone will likely have different cooler preferences, however.

 

[Lazermonkey]

I Run a Coolermaster V8 fan.. it performs excellent and looks damn cooL!!

It almost looks to me like one of your fans may be leaking grease?

That dust doesn't look like it is completely dry on your CPU cooler.

Maybe it's just the photo?

 

[Roph]

Forgot about this thread

As for the comments about my overclock, yeah I had 4.5ghz stable at stock voltage. I didn't run anything like prime95, though I left it encoding video all day, stressing all 8 cores. It hovered around 65C and was silly loud though, so I've gone back to 4ghz.

And yeah a 1ghz overclock sounds extreme, but the 8350 runs at the same voltage and 4Ghz stock, boosting up to 4.2 I believe. Stock voltage for an 83xx is already comparatively "high". It's not that crazy.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

There is no need to cool the VRM's if your pulling 4.5GHz on stock voltage

Even if he is not changing voltages, the higher CPU speed alone will pull more wattage, thus more stress on the VRMs. Let alone, on a motherboard not even remotely close to being designed to overclock.

 

[d1nky]

add voltage and higher frequencies the vrms get toasty. i have 12+2 phase design, larger vrms, decent heatsink and plenty of airflow, even modded a fan for vrm cicruit. and they still get hot under prime stressing.


and at the gig oc on stock voltages, that would probably crash instantly with prime. and i bet the cores are throttling no matter what.

and to answer the question on a cooler, i wouldnt even bother with air cooling on these 8cores.

i have the xigmatek aegir, two performance corsairs at max 24/7 with pk3 TIM. and its not enough even at 4.6hz

 

[TheTechWard]

It almost looks to me like one of your fans may be leaking grease?

That dust doesn't look like it is completely dry on your CPU cooler.

Maybe it's just the photo?

Yeah it was the photo sorry

 

[Durvelle27]

I tried to OC yesterday... 4.5GHz at stock voltage of my FX-8350 (usually a 4.0GHz CPU)... it worked until I opened Prime95 then the computer crashed.
I guess that chpiset just can't handle the overclocking. My motherboard is ASRock 970 Extreme3.
After going back to stock clocks it's working perfectly

I can do 4.5GHz on stock volts but you'd have to take into consideration i tweaked the hell out of my BIOs and have a slightly better board



OP i suggest getting a nice Air Cooler like the Hyper 212+ and these

Enzotech MOS-C10 Memory Cooling - Newegg.com

 

[d1nky]

you lot mad? i woudlnt recommend aircooling the 8core.

AIO......

 

[RCoon]

you lot mad? i woudlnt recommend aircooling the 8core.

AIO......

Some air coolers are just as good as AIO. Plus if you're not leaping into 1.4-5v territory, a standard tower air cooler can hold its own fairly well.
But these chips are destined for greatness. Give them copper and water and pour the volts into them.

 

[d1nky]

OP did say overclock.

i have a moderate aircool sink with corsair sp120s performance and PK3 paste..... NOT enough!"

 

[Johan45]

It's not the chipset as much as the underpowered board that will be the OP's issue. My buddy measuured his system the other day. 600w at the wall 4.7 Fx8350 with an OC'd gtx580. His 650W PSU tripped when he tried to go faster than 4.8

My advice would be to save your money and get an upgraded board and H/S if you want a good experience with this chip.
You are going to end up with very high socket temps on that board even with a goos H/S and fan.

 

[d1nky]

i coudlnt agree more.

these chips need rock solid power delivery and efficient cooling!

 

[Durvelle27]

you lot mad? i woudlnt recommend aircooling the 8core.

AIO......

My CM Hyper 212+ w/ 2x High Performance Fans keeps my FX 8320 @4.5GHz under 55C Full Load

 

[Sempron Guy]

Corsair H100i user here configured in push/pull w/ additional corsair SP120s. FX-6300 @ 4.6ghz is kept under 58c full load, gaming hovers around 52c. For the record my previous Antec Kuhler 620 also in push/pull can't keep it below 65c and that is on a much lower overclock and voltage. The Kuhler 620 is around Deepcool Ice Blade Pro performance.

 

[Johan45]

For $30 the Hypers are awsome coolers have one on my PII 965 HTPC barely hear it running. Like the sempron guy says the AIO are good for moderate OC'ing. I'm using the Thermaltake water 2.0 extreme got it for $80 on sale. For what it is I can't dis it. At a sustained Prime 95 load at 1.58Vcore it sits at 63°, not too shabby in my opinion.
But anyone looking for the big numbers of 5.0 + you really need a water loop to kep them cool and stable.

 

[Lazermonkey]

My 6300 with the CM 212+ with a push/pull will max in the low to mid 50's while gaming.

That is with a OC at 4.2 with 1.3 volts.

 

[cdawall]

He can't clock very high due to the board if all he is looking for is lowered noise and better temps a 212+ will fit his needs everyone needs to stop blowing this out of proportion and answer the simple question.

 

[Johan45]

That's probably more from the Asrock board than the cooler. Hard to keep the power section cool so the socket heats up.

 

[d1nky]

what is this guy trying to oc too?

obviously the higher clock/voltage more heat and these tower coolers dont cut the mustard.

 

[cdawall]

what is this guy trying to oc too?

obviously the higher clock/voltage more heat and these tower coolers dont cut the mustard.

So you are telling me for $25-35 you can find a better upgrade than taking the stock cooler out and replacing it with a CM Hyper 212+? He wanted lower noise and better cooling. Not to be scared away from the forums by some ebully with a hard on for anyone who doesn't water cool an FX chip. It is on a cheapy board he can't overclock that far. So what he wants to overclock to doesn't matter he asked a simple question give a simple answer not some skewed opinion about your hot running CPU.

 

[Lazermonkey]

Nothing wrong with the CM 212+ or EVO.

I can run my 6300 with the CM 212+ OC'd @ 4.2-4.3 all day.

 

[d1nky]

calm down!

its agreed for a budget aircooler the hyper is best price /performance.

the OP mentioned a ghz overclock and said the stock was screaming loud, and as already seen has been messing with high clocks.

and what you on about me bullying, im talking from experience that a large heatsink isnt the best option when overclocking these chips.

i like the look towers more than watercoolers, if a megahalems performed better than most water set ups allowing me to overclock by 1ghz, i would choose it in a heartbeat.

and i might add all fx 8cores when overclocked are hot, not just mine. also not all need to be watercooled.


a reminder....

The stock cooler does its job ok, though when pushing the CPU it quickly sounds a little too close to a jet engine for my comfort

I have to admit that before building this system I didn't keep up much with stuff like cooling, so I'm quite surprised to see how popular closed loop watercooling setups are. Are any of you guys running similar systems to me and have any advice for quieter cooling?

I'm guessing a lowly Corsair H40 isn't beefy enough to dump the 100W potential coming off the FX. What are you guys using?

I'm also a little confused that wherever I look, I can't find specs for closed loop systems that tell the average/expected wattage of heat disspiation.

 

[Roph]

Update, Antec Kuhler 620 finally arrived

Ended up setting up push and pull, mainly because I couldn't be bothered to properly remove the case fan (attached to case switch)

After loading all cores for a while, I'm hovering around 43C, versus ~63 on the stock. And it's not super loud. Chuffed